Backblaze is a true set-it-and-forget-it online backup service. It's good for novices, but it may frustrate expert users who want more granular controls.

Backblaze aims to address the concern that online backup services are too expensive and too complicated. It succeeds in that goal, delivering a service that is competitively priced and easy to use. Backblaze's back-up-everything approach will appeal to thrifty, hands-off users, and the latest release brings file-sharing options and improved performance throughout. More savvy users will miss the advanced backup options offered by competitors, however.

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Pricing and Starting Up

Backblaze costs less than most other online backup services. At $5 per month or $50 per year, it offers unlimited cloud backup storage for one computer. The norm is $59 per year for unlimited storage, as provided by Carbonite. Backblaze, however, doesn't offer a permanent free account level like Editors' Choice IDrive's 5GB free account or MozyHome and SpiderOakONE's free 2GB. You can try it out free for 15 days, though.

BackBbaze's unlimited storage is generous, especially compared with SpiderOak ONE, which charges $59 annually for just 100GB of space. However, you'll have to buy another subscription to add another computer to protect. Other services, such as IDrive and SOS Online Backup, another Editors' Choice service, let you add multiple computers to one account. You also have to jump through some hoops if you have only one license and need to transfer it to a new machine—if you use Backblaze for its intended purpose of restoring your backup to a new computer, for example.

Getting Started

Opening an account on Backblaze is easy. Signing up requires only an email address and a password, and then Backblaze generates a custom installer bound to your account. Once you've downloaded that, the rest of the installation is quick and painless. Backblaze works with macOS (OS X 10.6 and later) and Windows (XP through Windows 10) computers, and it offers apps for both Android and iOS devices.

After you install Backblaze, it scans your entire hard drive for certain file types (documents and media files) and starts backing them up immediately—without your say-so. Unlike most online backup solutions, it doesn't even give you the chance to indicate specific files or folders to back up. You can pause the scan immediately after it starts the backup process, though this really shouldn't be necessary. On the other hand, Backblaze is all about simplicity, and the simplest way to back up a computer is to have the service decide for you—even if it annoyingly backs up files you don't need.

Note that while Backblaze backs up all user files on your computer, it won't copy applications or system files. If you're looking for a fully bootable backup, try Acronis True Image or IDrive, both of which offer full system image backup. That said, Backblaze can back up an attached USB hard drive, something you need to pay extra for in Carbonite.

Interface

On Windows PCs, Backblaze lives as an icon in the notification tray. It gives you quick access to Backblaze Control Panel, a shortcut to the View/Restore Files section of the website, and the option to inherit a backup state for new setups.

The Backblaze interface is compact and well organized, though it does look dull, design-wise. We had no problem finding settings for selecting which hard disk to back up or when to schedule backups. You can also access restore options directly from the main window.

The big problem with the interface, though, stems from the service's aim for simplicity. It's much harder to specify the folders you want backed up than with most other services. You have to specify individual folders to exclude, not the other way around. Most services show you a folder tree and let you check and uncheck whatever you want backed up. It's simpler for users who don't know what should be backed up but frustrating for those who don't want everything just thrown in together.

With Backblaze, you can set backups to occur on a set schedule, but by default, it watches for changes and makes updates to your backup continuously. This is our favorite method, since the scheduling option may miss a file change you made a 9 a.m. if your system crashes and you didn't schedule a backup until 6 p.m.

Backblaze's presence on your computer is minimal. It does not, for instance, add file-system integration such as right-click options for adding files or folders to your backup. We prefer the more flexible approach of other services. While we appreciate Backblaze's focus on hands-off users, we'd also like to see more granular options built into the system.

Security

Backblaze is transparent about its security protocols. The security settings pane explains that your files are encrypted on your computer and then sent to Backblaze's servers over an SSL connection. If you're concerned about Backblaze staff, a hacker, or a law enforcement agency snooping your backup, you can manage your own encryption keys for the computer you want to back up. However, should you ever lose or forget it, Backblaze won't be able to help you reset the key, and you won't be able to access the data from that original computer. Security wonks will love these features, but such users will probably also want the additional flexibility and functions provided by SpiderOak ONE's secure backup service.

You can now enable two-factor authentication for Backblaze and set it up to send a code via SMS or to use with an existing authentication app, such as Google Authenticator or Duo Mobile. It's worth adding a phone number to your account since you can use this as an additional method of account recovery, should you ever lose access to both your Backblaze email and password.

Web Interface

Backblaze does have a small presence on your computer, but the service does most of the heavy lifting via its website. On the left-hand menu, there's a simple menu for navigating your account settings and billing information. You'll spend most of your time on the Backup/Restore screen, where you can view a file tree of the currently backed up files or request one of the restore options.

Backblaze addresses one of its most serious shortcomings by adding the ability to share files via its B2 Cloud Storage service for free. You can enable this functionality from within your account settings online, though you have to also enable two-factor authentication—which you should do anyway. From the View/Restore section of the web portal, you share files by making them publicly accessible via a generated link you send to your contacts.

Keep in mind that, despite having unlimited uploads and downloads for your personal backups, you are limited to 10GB of storage and 1GB of downloads (per day) when using the B2 cloud storage module for sharing purposes in the free tier. Users who want more sharing storage can purchase more space through the B2 service.

Performance

Backblaze has made some improvements under the hood, notably with the way threading works. The latest version includes an automatic threading option, which evaluates factors such as latency and CPU performance before choosing the optimal number of threads. It has also doubled the number of available threads to 20 on both Mac and PC. Previously, it allowed users to select the number of threads to use on their own. Choosing too few or too many threads than needed can throttle the overall performance of the backup process.

For performance testing, we backed up two 100MB sets of mixed file types and sizes with each service and averaged the time it takes to finish processing and uploading them. We used PCMag's fast 100Mbps (upload speed) corporate internet connection so that bandwidth wouldn't be a bottleneck.

Since Backblaze doesn't let you specify individual files and folders to back up, it presents a challenge for performance testing. As a workaround, we immediately paused the backup after the install completed and moved our data sets to a folder on the desktop. We added that folder to the exclusion list and allowed Backblaze to perform a full system backup of our test machine. Next, we changed the backup frequency from continuous to manual. We added the file sets back to the desktop one at a time, running the manual backup after each one and timing the process.

Backblaze's result of 1:35 (minutes:seconds) is quick, but it trails Editors' Choice SOS Online Backup's 1:05 and Acronis True Image, which took just 51 seconds. For comparison, Backblaze took about half the time of SugarSync (3:37) and was a full minute quicker than MozyHome (2:43). Check out the full list of results below.

Restoring Data

To create a restore download, use the search box or the file tree to select your files. Once you're satisfied, Backblaze begins gathering your information. When it's ready, it'll be accessible in the My Restores section of the website, where it saves restore bundles for seven days after you request them. You receive an email alert when your restore is ready, too.

We opted to restore files from the Backblaze website and received a ZIP file with our files in their original file structure. This includes any parent folders, though these will be empty except for the folders leading to your selected folders or files. We don't particularly care for this approach, but it does preserve your files and folders as they were originally.

Backblaze says that it keeps 30 days' worth of versions for each file. It saves hourly versions on the first day, daily versions for the following week, and weekly versions for the rest of the 30-day span. By comparison, SOS Online Backup and IDrive save all file versions indefinitely unless you specify a different timeframe.

The View/Restore Files tab is where you go to bundle backed-up files into a downloadable ZIP. Your other option is to pay $99 to have a USB flash drive (up to 128GB) or $189 for a USB hard drive (up to 4TB) mailed to you via FedEx. Keep in mind that you'll need to wipe and ship back the drives within 30 days for a refund. You can also use the Backblaze downloader app for large file downloads.

Track Your Computer

Part of the incentive to buy an online backup plan is to make sure your data will survive in case something horrible happens to your computer—something horrible, like having it stolen. Backblaze gives you a special assist in this regard, letting you track your computer's location from the Backblaze website.

From the Locate My Computer panel, we could view our computer's current location in an online map from OpenStreetMap. Backblaze located our test computers within the PCMag Labs with remarkable accuracy. You can also see the most recently backed up files, the current ISP serving the computer, and its IP address. All useful information to help recover your device. If theft is a concern, consider SOS Online Backup, which also can locate a missing device and includes remote wiping for stolen computers.

The Mobile Experience

Backblaze has nearly identical apps for Android and iOS. Both show you the computers you've enrolled and let you navigate through the file structure of your backups. The design is simple, but it gets the job done. A better-designed menu or a way to filter files by type or size would improve the experience, however.

The app also lets you download individual files from your backup and view or play them within the app. You can share files once you download them, but you're limited to the device's built-in sharing options.

We'd like to see options for automatically backing up photos on a mobile device, which the service does not offer. Many of Backblaze's competitors like iDrive and SOS have this capability, so savvy users will notice its absence.

Blaze It?

Backblaze seems ideal for novice computer users or those who don't want to fuss around with settings. With just a few clicks to create an account, Backblaze sets to work backing up your files and doesn't need to be thought of again until a catastrophe occurs or you purchase a new computer. We particularly like that, despite being dead simple, Backblaze includes smart encryption features.

More-experienced users will chafe at Backblaze's limitations, however. We wish it included detailed control over backup selection, instead of its exclusion-based system, and we missed having traditional folder-syncing options. Look to Editors' Choice winners IDrive, SOS Online Backup, and Acronis True Image for more control, richer feature sets, and better performance.

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About the Author

Michael Muchmore is PC Magazine's lead analyst for software and web applications. A native New Yorker, he has at various times headed up PC Magazine's coverage of Web development, enterprise software, and display technologies. Michael cowrote one of the first overviews of web services for a general audience. Before that he worked on PC Magazine's S... See Full Bio

More From Michael

Ben Moore is a Junior Analyst for PCMag's software team. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Neowin.net, and Tom's Guide on everything from hardware to business acquisitions across the tech industry. Ben holds a degree in New Media and Digital Design from Fordham University at Lincoln Center, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Obse... See Full Bio

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